Valorization of watermelon fruit (Citrullus lanatus) byproducts: phytochemical and biofunctional properties with emphasis on recent trends and advances

• Autor(a) principal: Vinhas, Ana S.
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Silva, Carla Sousa e, Matos, Carla, Moutinho, Carla, Ferreira da Vinha, Ana
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10284/9353
• topic: Citrullus lanatus; Byproducts; Bioactive compounds; Biological activities; Toxicity; Functional food

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) a fruit crop, is an herbaceous creeping plant belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae. It is a tropical plant, mainly propagated by seeds and thrives best in warm areas. While the fruit pulp is consumed, seeds are often discarded. The continuously growing global market for the main tropical fruits is currently estimated at 85 million tons, of which approximately half is lost or wasted throughout the whole processing chain. Developing novel processes for the conversion of these byproducts into value‐added products could provide a viable way to manage this waste problem, aiming at the same time to create a sustainable economic growth within a bio‐economy perspective. Given the ever‐increasing concern about sustainability, complete valorization through a bio‐refinery approach, that is, zero waste concepts is therefore most important. This paper aims to report the status on the valorization of tropical fruit byproducts, more specifically in watermelon seeds and their content in bioactive compounds, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, alkaloids. Moreover, the bioactivity of the different types of phytochemicals and their possible application as a resource for different sectors (food, pharmaceutical, and environmental sciences) is discussed. Consequently, this review presents the concepts of tropical fruit byproducts recovery, and the potential applications of the isolated fractions.